Learning in the Public Library

Abstract
Aarhus Public Libraries has in 2004 and 2005 experimented with different types of learning in a project called Hybrid Learning Environments, receiving funding from the development pool for public and school libraries of the Danish National Library Authority.

The Hybrid Learning Environments project has worked with the public library’s new role in a learning and knowledge society.  The project has aimed to contribute to an exploration of how the library can support the citizens’ learning and activities as active citizens in the democratic society.  The central idea of the project has been the paradigm shift for the role of the staff: a shift from the notion of the public library as a supplier of information resources to the idea of the library as an active partner in the citizens’ learning processes.  This shift has had to be reflected in the services offered at the library as well as in the staff’s interaction with the users and the physical and virtual space.  Thus demands have been made to the staff to offer the users individual guidance on/training in information competency based on the user’s individual and immediate needs.

Among other things the objectives of the projects have been:

• to define the contents of open learning spaces and clarify concepts and framework.
• to test various models for libraries as centres for lifelong learning.
• to support the transformation process of the libraries.
• to support knowledge management and network among public libraries, which work with the development of the library’s role as learning centre for information competency.

The Public Library and Lifelong Learning
In 2000 the EU memorandum on lifelong learning was published.  The EU objective is that all citizens must have access to learning on a permanent basis, so that the individual citizen will be able to upgrade his or her competences throughout life. This objective is a result of the realization that the knowledge which the individual person acquires in the course of his or her formal education cannot constitute the framework of a whole adult life: it has to be supplemented continuously in order for the citizen to be able to keep up with the development of society.

The EU memorandum categorizes learning as either formal, non-formal or informal learning.

• Formal learning is perceived as learning which takes place at educational institutions issuing examination certificates or the like.
• Non-formal learning does not result in actual certificates.  It is offered e.g. via the workplace, organizations and other groups which a person is part of.
• Informal learning is not necessarily perceived as learning, but as a natural part of everyday life.

Via lifelong learning the EU wishes to ensure that all Europeans are active citizens and that everyone is qualified for employment.  At a more personal level this action must secure that the citizens undergo a personal development and function well in social contexts.  Thus the lifelong learning takes place not only throughout the formal education system; it has also been brought into focus that knowledge must be replenished in relation to more private needs to be able to live “the good life” and participate in democratic decision-making processes.

The focus on lifelong learning allows public libraries to develop services based on the three types of learning.  The services must be adapted to local circumstances and can result in different actions such as

• Co-operation with external educational institutions, where the library assists in running the courses.
• That the library offers courses and introductions to various subjects.
• That the library staff continuously supports the learning processes of the citizens by offering them to take home new tools from the library and by starting from and building upon what the citizens’ already know.

Learning
The concepts of learning, information competency and guidance have been of primary importance in the Hybrid Learning Environments project.  In the competence development of the staff and the designing of the project models, work has been done based on different theories in order to create a common platform and a common conceptual universe.

The project has drawn a lot of inspiration from Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences Mads Hermandsen plus systemic theory and this has provided the basis for working with the following understanding of learning:

Learning is when something you already know can be linked up with something new. Learning subsequently causes you to do something different.

The result of this work has been a number of new directions for how the staff has had to work with the shift from being “product supplier” and “service provider” to becoming “process provider” and “partner in learning”:

• good personal relations are essential in the learning process, because the learning process is a vulnerable situation.
• the motivation of the user - not the instructor - is the point of departure for the learning process.
• the learning situation builds upon social structures.
• the learning situation depends upon the context. Both the user and the staff will when meeting and in the situation be influenced by their surroundings.

Information Competency
The core competencies of the public libraries are attached to the concept of information competence.  In the Hybrid Learning Environments project the definition used has been the one suggested as a Nordic standard by NordinfoLIT .  This definition specifies that the information competent citizen must be able to:

1. Acknowledge the need for information and define the character and amount of information needed.
2. Find the necessary information efficiently and competently.
3. Critically evaluate the information and the information retrieval process.
4. Organize the information which has been gathered and/or generated.
5. Apply previous and new information to construct new knowledge or reach a new realization.
6. Make consciously use of information and recognize cultural, ethical, economical, legal and social themes in connection with using the information.

As a consequence of this definition the staff has had to focus on the learning process of the user who is to acquire the skills to become more information competent. The user should not just have the information handed out; he or she should be encouraged to evaluate, retrieve and combine the information with his or her own knowledge.

The individual user must be able to construct new knowledge and use it independently, but the library staff can provide the framework for the cognitive process. The project has experimented with boosting the information competence of the users by

• letting the staff function as interlocutor/guide and via questioning support the individual learning process of the user.
• planning learning courses for fixed target groups.
• giving access to study rooms and quiet rooms where users have been allowed to produce and make use of information.

organizing services which support social learning, for example study groups, meetings between users and meetings between experts and users.

The Role of the Staff in a Learning-Orientated Public Library
If the library staff is to teach the users to become information competent, it requires focussing on the staff’s role as player in learning.  When working with the development of librarians as players in learning, it is vital to bridge the information competency, the librarian’s and the pedagogical approach to the users.

During the course of the project a number of guidelines have been drawn up in relation to how the staff can support the learning of the users in a pedagogical manner:

• The problem, motivation and qualifications of the user form the focal point.
• The user must be guided along one step at the time.
• The user must work “hands-on” with a computer.
• Any information retrieval is to be regarded as being unique.
• The user must receive help to disseminate and communicate.
• The library staff asks questions – the user must answer on the basis of his or her individual perception.
• The library staff is actively reaching out.
• The library staff creates forums for social activities and exchange of dialogue.

To establish equal relations it is necessary to neutralize any physical or mental barriers between user and guide. The library staff must aspire to obtain equality in the communication. Furthermore, the physical settings must signal readiness to meet the user’s wishes. In connection with several of the project’s models there have been no service points and it has been attempted to replace working behind the computer screen with practical tasks such as shelving of books, working with a SmartBoard etc.  To stand out from everyone else, the library staff has been wearing special shirts or badges, and the staff has unsolicited been offering assistance to the users.


The Guide
Being a library guide requires specialist knowledge related to the library sphere plus when guiding the ability to alternate between the roles as:

• Organizer (when the staff member organizes materials with an express purpose).
• Retriever (when the staff member retrieves answers for the user – e.g. answers to short reference questions).
• Identifier (when the staff member seeks information based on user requests).
• Adviser (when the staff member advises and provides possible actions/recommendations).

Guide (when the staff member together with the user analyzes “the problem” starting from the needs and qualifications of the user) .

The main focus of the project has been the development of the staff’s role as adviser and guide. It is in this connection information competency becomes relevant, since the adviser and guide must keep in view the information competency as the aim of the learning situation.

The Instructor
The focus on learning in the public library brings about reflections on instruction within the library sphere and the library staff as instructor. In the project, the staff’s role as instructor has undergone a development from traditional library instruction with blackboard teaching to instruction which meets the following criteria:

• Blackboard teaching is minimized.
• Independent assignments are prioritized.
• The instruction is planned together with the course participants.
• The qualifications of the user determine the agenda.
• Hands-on instruction is prioritized.
• The situation defines the instruction.

The Producer
Working with new topics, areas and media entails that the staff must develop new working methods and take on new roles. In the project, the work with instruction and the development of an interactive learning environment has resulted in the library staff taking on the role as producer of materials and information. This new role has among other things included:

• Co-operation with external partners on the development process.
• Work on new ways of presenting information.
• Development and planning of the learning elements based on target groups and their learning styles..